


dripping like a saturated sunrise

by caitlesshea



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mentions of Blood, Soul identifying marks, Soulmates, alex week 2020, descriptions of injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:42:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24825496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caitlesshea/pseuds/caitlesshea
Summary: Alex and Michael are soulmates. It takes them ten years to complete the bond.
Relationships: Maria DeLuca/Michael Guerin, Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Comments: 13
Kudos: 158





	dripping like a saturated sunrise

Chaos. It’s all chaos. Alex looks around and cringes. There’s glass everywhere and they’re surrounded by rubble. 

Max and Isobel are unconscious, the aftermath of their showdown surrounding them, while Liz and Rosa tend to their wounds. 

And Michael. Alex nearly chokes thinking about it. Michael took the brunt of Max’s anger, shielding Isobel and all of them from the destruction. Kyle leans over Michael as he tries to stop the bleeding from his chest as Maria puts pressure on the wound on his forehead. 

“Alex!” Kyle tells and it forces him back into reality. Alex looks at Michael and practically falls to his knees next to him. He winces when his prosthetic bends more than it should but he settles next to Michael. 

“Help me stop the bleeding.” Kyle says as he tries to assess Michael’s injuries. Alex’s hands flutter over Michael’s chest, unable to fully press on the wound.

“Alex! You need to put pressure on it.”

“I can’t. I need something.” 

“Something? What are you talking about?” 

Alex ignores him and bunches up what’s left of Michael’s shirt to place on top of the wound before he presses down. 

All too soon the shirt is soaked through and Alex takes his hands off of the wound. 

“Alex!” Kyle yells as he tries to stitch up the gash on Michael’s leg. 

“I can’t. I can’t.” 

“You have too. Just long enough for me to finish and try to wake Max.”

Alex looks down at his blood soaked hands and up to Michael’s face and prays to a god he doesn’t believe in that he’s making the right choice. 

The moment his hands touch Michael’s skin he feels it. Warmth settles into soul and it makes his breath catch. 

In what feels like no time at all he can see the beginnings of his mark, a splash of color that winds around his wrist and over his left hand. Their marks have always been the most beautiful thing to him. 

Most soul marks are black with just a hint of color. Usually something meaningful to the pair. They appear through skin to skin contact and become permanent the longer the two people touch. 

Alex and Michael’s matching soul marks are a wash of color. Vibrant pinks, purples, and blues. _Just like the console._

Alex only recently made the connection when he grabbed Michael’s hand back when he tried to give Michael information on his mother Nora. 

That was the longest they had touched skin to skin in months. Over the years they had fine tuned their interactions, knowing exactly how long it would take for the marks to settle and become permanent. Neither of them wanted to make them so. 

Alex has a soulmate that doesn’t want to be bonded to him.

He can see the colors taking shape over his hand and Maria gasps.

“Alex.” 

“No.” Alex tears his eyes away from Michael’s face to look at her with pleading eyes. 

“Switch with me.” Maria says as she settles against Michael’s side to put pressure on the wound and Alex takes over bandaging Michael’s forehead. 

Normally when they break their connection the mark fades away. It’s no use though, since Alex has had the pattern memorized since he was seventeen. 

Only this time, the mark isn’t fully completed. But even more troublesome, the mark isn’t disappearing. If Alex was thinking clearly he would realize it’s because he stopped touching Michael skin to skin, but he’s stuck in a spiral that he’s irrevocably messed up the one good thing in his life. 

He has just a moment to see Max waking up and crawling over to heal Michael when the world goes black. 

**~~~**

Alex comes to slowly, feeling warm and tingly, in a way he hasn’t felt since that day in the toolshed all those years ago. 

He squints against the bright lights and realizes that he’s laying on the couch in their makeshift lab. He can feel an IV in his arm and his stump feels like it’s not on fire for the first time in days. 

He lets the warm feeling settle in his chest as he opens his eyes. There are hushed whispers that quiet immediately around him, when suddenly a mop of golden curly hair is in his vision.

“Private.” 

“Wha?” Alex tries to say even though his mouth feels like cotton. Michael chuckles and Alex feels it in his _soul._

“ _Oh_.” Alex says quietly as Michael brushes his hair off of his forehead with his left hand. The same hand that he can now see their completed soulmark on. 

“Yeah.” Michael says just as quietly as Alex did. Alex looks down at his left hand and sees their soulmark complete for the first time. 

Tears spring to his eyes and he shuts them tightly as Michael grabs his hand. 

“I had to. I hope you’re not mad.” 

Alex’s eyes open at that and he shakes his head vehemently. 

“You’ve also got a nice handprint on your stomach.” Michael looks towards his stomach and Alex follows the movement where Alex can see a shimmering handprint so similar in color to their soulmarks it makes Alex smile. 

“My healing isn’t one hundred percent, which is why it’s not fully formed and why you’re on an IV drip, but you should be able to take it out in a couple of hours.” Michael smiles ruefully and Alex squeezes the hand still holding his. 

“Where is everyone?” 

“They left to give us some privacy.”

Alex nods and licks his lips. Michael hands him a water bottle and Alex has never been so grateful.

“Why?”

Michael scoffs. “Turns out when you hide a soulmate from people for ten years they tend to think you have something to talk about.” 

Alex rolls his eyes but does nod his head.

“I _am_ sorry. I had no choice.”

“Hey, no Private.” Michael scoots closer to Alex on the couch. “I’ve wanted this since we were seventeen.” 

Michael touches Alex’s soulmark and Alex shivers.

“But?”

“No, buts.” Michael smiles. “The only reason the bond didn’t complete when we were seventeen was because of Jesse, not you darlin’. Never you.” 

“I thought. All those years...” 

“I thought you _didn’t_ want it.” 

“No. Michael. Never.” Alex says with as much conviction as he can muster. 

Michael leans forward and places his forehead against Alex’s and Alex feels like he’s _home_ for the first time in his life. 

“When the handprint fades, and we can really feel the bond, I’ll tell you again, but please know that I love you, and I have _never_ looked away.” 

“I’ve never looked away either, Michael. Never.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Come find me on Tumblr - same username!


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